Hurst Coefficient in long time series of population size: Model for two plant populations with different reproductive strategies

Can the fractal dimension of fluctuations in population size be used to estimate extinction risk? The problem with estimating this fractal dimension is that the lengths of the time series are usually too short for conclusive results. This study answered this question with long time series data obtained from an iterative competition model. This model produces competitive extinction at different perturbation intensities for two different germination strategies: germination of all seeds vs. dormancy in half the seeds. This provided long time series of 900 years and different extinction risks. The results support the hypothesis for the effectiveness of the Hurst coefficient for estimating extinction risk

Influência da rotação de culturas no sistema radicular do milho e em algumas características químicas de um latossolo vermelho-escuro distrófico da região de Sete Lagoas.

Em experimento envolvendo rotacao de culturas e adubacao verde na cultura do milho, em um latossolo Vermelho-Escuro distrofico, observou-se um periodo de estiagem prolongada durante a fase de florescimento de milho, sintomas acentuados de murcha em areas de cultivo continuo com milho. Em areas onde se efetuava a rotacao de cultura soja-milho, mucuna-milho, milho + mucuna intercalar-milho, este sintoma nao se repetia. Procurando-se avaliar os beneficios de rotacao de culturas sobre o monocultivo, coletou-se amostras de solo de uma area com 0,20 m2, tendo-se como ponto central a linha de milho. O volume amostrado foi obtido atraves das seguintes profundidades: 0-2 cm, 2-4 cm, 4-6 cm, 6-10 cm, 10-14 cm, 14-18 cm, 18-26 cm, 26-34 cm e 34-42 cm. Apos a coleta do solo + raizes, estas foram separadas e quantificadas (peso) e o solo analisado quimicamente. Os resultados permitiram concluir que a rotacao soja-milho e mucuna-milho, promoveram maior aumento de peso de plantas de milho e maior quantidade de raizes abaixo de 30 cm de profundidade em relacao ao milho continuo e milho com mucuna intercalar. A rotacao soja-milho promoveu uma melhor distribuicao de bases nas camadas mais profundas do solo, aumentando a saturacao de calcio. Houve, nas areas com rotacao mucuna-milho, maiores teores de potassio, calcio e magnesio, em relacao aos demais manejos (soja-milho, milho continuo e milho apos milho + mucuna intercalar)

Stacking Gravitational Wave Signals from Soft Gamma Repeater Bursts

Soft gamma repeaters (SGRs) have unique properties that make them intriguing targets for gravitational wave (GW) searches. They are nearby, their burst emission mechanism may involve neutron star crust fractures and excitation of quasi-normal modes, and they burst repeatedly and sometimes spectacularly. A recent LIGO search for transient GW from these sources placed upper limits on a set of almost 200 individual SGR bursts. These limits were within the theoretically predicted range of some models. We present a new search strategy which builds upon the method used there by "stacking" potential GW signals from multiple SGR bursts. We assume that variation in the time difference between burst electromagnetic emission and burst GW emission is small relative to the GW signal duration, and we time-align GW excess power time-frequency tilings containing individual burst triggers to their corresponding electromagnetic emissions. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we confirm that gains in GW energy sensitivity of N^{1/2} are possible, where N is the number of stacked SGR bursts. Estimated sensitivities for a mock search for gravitational waves from the 2006 March 29 storm from SGR 1900+14 are also presented, for two GW emission models, "fluence-weighted" and "flat" (unweighted).Comment: 17 pages, 16 figures, submitted to PR

The variability behavior of CoRoT M-giant Stars

For 6 years the Convection, Rotation, and Planetary Transits (CoRoT) space mission has acquired photometric data from more than one hundred thousand point sources towards and directly opposite from the inner and outer regions of the Galaxy. The high temporal resolution of the CoRoT data combined with the wide time span of the observations has enabled the study of short and long time variations in unprecedented detail. From the initial sample of 2534 stars classified as M-giants in the CoRoT databasis, we selected 1428 targets that exhibit well defined variability, using visual inspection. The variability period and amplitude of C1 stars (stars having Teff < 4200 K) were computed using Lomb-Scargle and harmonic fit methods. The trends found in the V-I vs J-K color-color diagram are in agreement with standard empirical calibrations for M-giants. The sources located towards the inner regions of the Galaxy are distributed throughout the diagram while the majority of the stars towards the outer regions of the Galaxy are spread between the calibrations of M-giants and the predicted position for Carbon stars. The stars classified as supergiants follow a different sequence from the one found for giant stars. We also performed a KS test of the period and amplitude of stars towards the inner and outer regions of the Galaxy. We obtained a low probability that the two samples come from the same parent distribution. The observed behavior of the period-amplitude and period-Teff diagrams are, in general, in agreement with those found for Kepler sources and ground based photometry, with pulsation being the dominant cause responsible for the observed modulation. We also conclude that short-time variations on M-Giant stars do not exist orare very rare and the few cases we found are possibly related to biases or background stars.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure